Bulls Return to Alumni Arena to Host Western Michigan Tuesday
1/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
UB vs. Western Michigan Game Notes
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team will host Mid-American Conference opponent Western Michigan Tuesday night. The Bulls (8-6, 1-2 MAC) & the Broncos (9-5, 2-1 MAC) will meet for the 18th time at 7 pm in Alumni Arena.
With Western Michigan's 10-point victory on Jan. 7, 2014, the Broncos took a 9-8 edge in the series history dating back to the 1998-99 season. WMU won three straight from 2003-04 to 2005-06, while the Bulls picked up a trio of victories from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Coming off a solid all-around performance at Miami (OH), the Bulls have a field goal percentage of .364 and a free throw percentage of .680. UB, who leads the MAC in three point field goal defense, blocks and steals, is averaging 65.6 points and 42.8 boards per game. Junior Mackenzie Loesing, who met the 1,000-point milestone against Central Michigan on Wednesday, leads UB with 12.9 points per game and 22 threes on the year. Senior captain Kristen Sharkey is averaging 12.4 points a game to go with 7.4 boards and 27 steals, while shooting a team-best .855 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Alexus Malone is posting 11.7 points and 8.1 rebounds a contest. She has six double-doubles to rank second in the MAC and joins sophomore Camera Miley in leading UB with 28 assists. Loesing and Malone each have 28 steals for the Bulls. Senior captain Christa Baccas is contributing 8.7 points per game, while redshirt-sophomore Rachael Gregory is chipping in 8.3 points to help guide the balanced UB offense. With two straight starts, junior Karin Moss has dished out 27 assists. Ranking second all-time at UB and 11th nationally among active Division I student-athletes with 215 blocks, Baccas has 27 to lead the conference. She pulls down a Bull-best 8.4 boards per contest.
The 9-5 Broncos had won three consecutive contests dating back to 2014 before suffering a 54-36 setback at Ball State on Saturday. Western Michigan opened MAC play with a pair of home victories over Akron, 67-61, and Ohio, 61-51. The Broncos have a field goal percentage of .398 and are connecting .718 percent of their free throws. They are outscoring opponents 60.7-55.9, but being outrebounded 38.1-36.9. The only player averaging double figures, Miracle Woods paces the team with 13.2 points a game on .500 percent shooting (64-for-128). She adds Bronco-bests of 5.5 rebounds a game and 18 blocks. Alex Morton, Jessica Jessing and A.J. Johnson, who have each started all 14 contests, chip in 8.8, 8.6 and 8.4 points per outing, respectively. Morton has 44 assists and 24 steals, while Johnson adds 35 and 21. Johnson has hit 19 threes this season to lead the team.
The game will air on ESPN 1520 AM with Sloane Martin on the call, while a live ESPN3 webcast will be available. Fans can also follow along with live stats or live tweets.
ESPN3 is available at no additional cost to fans who receive ESPN as part of their TV subscription through participating TV providers. ESPN3 is also available at no cost to US college students and US-based military personnel on computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.
